Wartime HistoryOn December 7, 1941 five Japanese submarines: I-16, I-18, I-20, I-22 and I-24 arrived at a rendezvous point seven miles west of Lanai Island to recover the five Type A midget submarines launched that morning to attack Pearl Harbor. None of the midget submarines reached the rendezvous point as scheduled. At 10:41pm, I-16 received a message "se, se, se” (short for seiko, seiko, seiko - success, success, success) indicating the aerial attack was a success. Reception was poor and the message might have come from any of the midget submarines.

On December 8, 1941 at 12:51am I-16 receives a message thought to be from HA-16 midget submarine "unable to navigate". No other transmissions were received. All five midget submarines were lost during the attack. During the early morning hours, all five submarines depart undetected.